Academics to review speed limit enforcement in North Yorkshire

A police commissioner has unveiled plans to enlist academics to help tackle speeding across England’s largest county.

Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said he aimed to enable the force to deal decisively with safety on rural roads and in villages. But with more than 6,000 miles of roads and 800 villages to cover, demand for enforcement was outstripping police resources.

Mr Allott said universities had been invited to tender to review how speed limits are enforced in the county and he was hopeful work to come up with alternatives would shortly get underway.

He was speaking to North Yorkshire County Council’s Richmondshire constituency committee following years of controversy surrounding North Yorkshire Police’s speed camera vans.

While fixed speed cameras have repeatedly been deemed an unsuitable solution for the largely rural county, the force has insisted the vans are used to deter speeding at sites of accidents.

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Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott’s predecessor, frequently defended the use of the vans and denied they were a revenue generator.

Last year she tweeted: 

“Any cash raised is spent on road safety, but they are largely self-funding, and certainly not ‘cash cows’. We also have clear evidence of behaviour change and lives saved.”

Nevertheless, motorists, including former police traffic officers and a number of leading councillors, believe the vans have frequently been sent to sites, such as bridges over motorways or dual carriageway laybys, in a bid to maximise numbers of fines.

Just 35 traffic officers

After being elected Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over the vans, which were introduced in 2011.

He told the constituency committee while speeding was a prominent issue for residents, the force had just 35 traffic officers to oversee enforcement.

Mr Allott said: 

“The issue for us is that for the safety camera vans there are 750 sites for 12 vans plus two motorcycle units, and they can’t possibly go to every location.”

Mr Allott said he wanted elected community representatives to be able to direct police towards the areas of greatest concern.

He said: 

“What I would like to move towards is a position where if you say ‘I want the camera van to go out here or there’, you can have that as a councillor three times a year.”

Referring to calls for 20mph zones in some built-up areas, he said neither the camera vans nor hand-held speed guns were calibrated as low as 20mph.

He added: 

“If you are a councillor and wanting a lower speed limit, I as commissioner will support it. There are some challenges and you can see why I want an academic institute to look at this.”

Ripon to get two CCTV cameras after ‘mini crime wave’

North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner has pledged to pay for two CCTV cameras in Ripon following a “mini crime wave”.

The two cameras are set to cost £10,000 each, but Philip Allott, the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner, has said his office will foot the bill.

It follows a spate of anti-social behaviour in the city, including an alleged knifepoint robbery of a teenage boy Bondgate last month. A 17-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man were later charged and remanded in custody.

Mr Allott told a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council‘s Skipton and Ripon Area Constituency Committee today that his office was willing to pay for the extra cameras, but warned that other measures would have to be taken to bring down crime.

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He told councillors that police already had resources to investigate and apprehend offenders and that other measures to take kids off the streets were needed.

Mr Allott said:

“In Ripon where there has been a mini crime wave, primarily thanks to four families where the perpetrators have been held on remand pending court appearances. We need to work with partners.

“I can make sure the police have resources and indeed in Ripon they have, to investigate and apprehend offenders but we need to look at diversion stuff we can do.

“The city council yesterday evening is keen to get not one but two extra cameras from the borough council. We will fund that and the cost is £10,000 each.

“But somebody has to do that application to my office, I cannot do that application alone.

“Equally, we do need councillors in particular to help in terms of local partnerships and safety hubs to help us with the diversion stuff that we can provide to take kids off the streets.”

North Yorkshire Police not answering half of 999 calls on time

Half of 999 calls to North Yorkshire Police were not answered on time last month, according to the force’s own figures.

The force’s control room received 9,572 emergency calls — the highest ever number for the month of August.

However, 50 per cent of those were not answered within the 10 second target set nationally.

Half of calls met the target and 45 per cent were answered within five seconds, according to police.

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Deputy chief constable Phil Cain told a North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner accountability meeting yesterday that on average the force answered 999 calls within 22 seconds last month.

He said:

“We want to get a lot better at that.

“The challenge for us is balancing against the volume increase of three nines we are receiving since the easing of lockdown restrictions versus some of the staffing challenges we have got in the control room.”

DCC Cain said police were creating long and medium term plans, which include using technology and additional staff, to improve response times.

Overtime plan

The move comes as the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner, Philip Allott, approved £69,000 worth of funding in July for the force to create an overtime plan and hire six more call handlers for busier times.

An additional £70,000 was set aside should more funding be required until the end of October.

A decision notice on the commissioner’s website said:

“The requirement for this available funding will be reviewed at the end of October and the commissioner expects to see proposals brought forward through the next round of budget setting to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the force control room.”

Mr Allott told the Stray Ferret in July that he expected improvements in response times in the coming months following the easing of restrictions and after improvements to the service were made.

Ripon groups urged to bid for £20,000 grants to tackle crime

Organisations concerned about crime in Ripon are being urged to apply for grants of up to £20,000.

Ripon has been blighted by anti-social behaviour in recent months. In one of the latest incidents, a teenage boy was robbed at knifepoint in Bondgate a fortnight ago.

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner‘s office operates a Community Fund specifically for local organisations, groups or individuals who need money to help fund a new community safety project or scheme.

The fund, which awards sums between £500 and £20,000, is only available for new projects and is aimed particularly at areas in the county suffering high crime.

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Philip Allott, who was elected North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner this year, told the Stray Ferret he encouraged funding applications from groups and individuals in Ripon.

‘Funding can be used for setting up community activities like a youth club, theatre group, sports club, car maintenance, gardening group etc. The most important aspect is that the activity is designed for young people aged 11 – 17.
“I would particularly welcome enquiries from those looking to offer activities in Ripon as it will provide diversionary activities to stop young people getting sucked into low level criminal activities.”
Mr Allott is due to give Ripon councillors a briefing on Wednesday about disorder in Ripon.

 

Police boss ‘confident’ officers have a grip on crime in Ripon

North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott has expressed confidence that officers have a grip on crime in Ripon after another spate of incidents.

Mr Allott said he hoped an increased police presence in the city would send a message that “crime will not be tolerated”.

He also urged more residents to “break silence” and report anything suspicious.

In recent weeks there has been a spate of crime, including a teenager being robbed at knifepoint, with a 17-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man later being charged.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Allott said:

“I want to reassure the community in Ripon that police are on top of this.

“Officers know who the perpetrators are, they have made arrests, they have got a grip on the situation, and I am confident of that.

“One of the problems we have in Ripon is sometimes a wall of silence by certain families and that makes it quite difficult to apprehend people.

“The police will still get those people. It just takes a bit longer.”

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Other incidents in recent weeks include a 16-year-old boy being chased by a group believed to be around the same age. This is believed to have happened in the Southgate area in the early hours of August 18.

The night after, two men were arrested in connection with an incident on Bondgate and a 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of affray after a separate incident on Mawson Lane.

Step-up patrols

It has prompted police to step up patrols once again. This was done earlier in the year after city councillors held a meeting with former Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan.

Mr Allot, who replaced Ms Mulligan in May, said he hoped to meet with councillors in the coming weeks to offer more reassurances and also discuss other plans to tackle crime and help repeat offenders.

He said:

“Police are being extremely effective… but there are some fundamental issues which have to be addressed here.

“We try wherever possible to avoid putting young people through the courts system because we know that tends to lead to a downward spiral.

“But in some cases, this is not always possible because of the seriousness of what is involved.

“Policing can put a sticky plaster on the problem, but unfortunately history tells me in Ripon that every so often a small number of members of the community spill out and cause trouble.

“Our aim is to stop that happening and break this repeated offending.”

North Yorkshire Police taking three times longer than expected to answer 101 calls

North Yorkshire Police is taking three times longer than expected to answer non-emergency 101 calls this month, according to officers.

Lindsey Butterfield, assistant chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, told a police commissioner public accountability meeting yesterday that the force was experiencing a high number of 101 calls to its control room.

In the last six days, it had received on average 95 non-emergency calls per day, she said.

North Yorkshire Police’s target is to answer the majority of 101 calls in two minutes.

Ms Butterfield said so far this month the force was averaging seven minutes and 13 seconds to answer non-emergency calls. She added:

“We know that is absolutely not where we want to be as a service.”

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Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, approved emergency funding of £70,000 for the force to put an overtime plan in place in order to improve the speed of response to calls.

Mr Allott told the Stray Ferret he expected the response time to 101 to improve in the coming months following the easing of restrictions and after improvements to the service were made.

He said:

“It’s making it so that people get a good service. I recognise that 101 and 999 is front of business and people need to get through.

“The police admit that it is not where it needs to be and they are reporting back to me on a weekly basis.”

Police also hope that new trainee call handlers will be available by next month to help ease pressure on resources.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the force received 470 emergency calls in a single 24-hour period — the most it has ever handled.

Part of the increase is thought to be down to York Races and the ending of covid restrictions.

North Yorkshire Police currently expects to deal with 9,000 999 calls this month.

In June, police received a a total of 35,490 non-emergency, emergency and front desk calls, which was also a record.

At the time, officers said the increase was thought to be down to the easing of lockdown restrictions and an increase in incidents.

Ms Butterfield said:

“We have continued to see excessive demand in terms of calls for service into the control room. It is unprecedented and it is on a national level, although it is having a significant impact on North Yorkshire.”

Police commissioner: jail people who assault emergency workers

North Yorkshire’s police commissioner has called for those who attack emergency workers to go prison after revealing stark figures for assaults across the county.

In the past 12 months, 696 assaults against emergency workers were recorded in North Yorkshire and York  – in 177 cases, these resulted in injuries.

Philip Allott, the county’s police, fire and crime commissioner, has backed legislation currently going through Parliament to come into force as soon as possible to provide protection for police officers and staff, firefighters and paramedics.

He said that under current legislation a non-custodial sentence or a fine is too often the punishment handed out.

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The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will mean the maximum sentence for anyone found guilty of assaulting an emergency service worker, such as by thumping, kicking, pushing, shoving or spitting, is doubled to two years.

Mr Allott said:

“These are individuals who are on the front line and putting themselves in harm’s way who are being assaulted while working hard to protect us. It is only right we do everything we can to protect them in return by ensuring those who attack them go to prison.

“I completely back the doubling of the maximum sentence to two years and hope the law can be changed as quickly as possible. But, let’s be clear, those convicted can already be given a custodial sentence and all too often this punishment is not the one they receive. As these numbers show, the punishment handed out does not appear to be stopping offences. That must change.”

He continued:

“In my view, it’s simple – when someone attacks an emergency service worker, and unless they are detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, nothing less than a custodial sentence will do and I will be writing to the court, at the time of sentencing, for anyone convicted of assaulting a police officer, PCSO, paramedic, firefighter or transport police in North Yorkshire and York to make that case.

“For those still intent on attacking emergency workers, please don’t subsequently say you were not warned.”

Police have ‘public duty’ to tackle noisy cars, says commissioner

Police have a “public duty” to tackle noisy and speeding cars in Harrogate, says North Yorkshire’s police commissioner.

Philip Allott, who was elected North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in May, told the Stray Ferret the force had received a record number of complaints about the issue.

He said in the past four weeks, more than 20 complaints had been made about speeding and noisy vehicles.

Mr Allott said there was a “public duty to sort the issue”, which had become more prominent as the country heads out of lockdown.

He told a recent commissioner public accountability meeting that police need to be seen to be “proactive” about the issue.

Mr Allott said:

“We’re leading into post lockdown, people are now hearing noises that perhaps they didn’t before and we need to balance the sensitivities of the communities that I represent with the rights and freedoms of others.

“I think as a force, North Yorkshire Police need to be shown to be proactive but also caring. If people are speeding then we need to demonstrate that we are holding them to account.”

Last month, the force said it would be taking a “zero tolerance” approach to noisy cars and “antisocial driving of high powered” vehicles in the town centre.

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Harrogate often attracts drivers, sometimes in modified vehicles, racing around the main roads, particularly during summer.

The police pledged in a statement last month to keep up the pressure during the summer months on “the irresponsible behaviour of some drivers which is not only unsafe but also highly disruptive”.

Operation Chrome will see increased police patrols in hot spots, more speed cameras across town, vehicle stops and detailed CCTV reviews.

Superintendent Steve Thomas said:

“Residents and visitors should not have to fear for their safety or have their days blighted by this excessive noise.

“We are taking a zero tolerance approach to this dangerous behaviour.”

Commissioner chooses preferred chief fire officer candidate

North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner has selected his preferred candidate to be interim chief fire officer.

Philip Allott has chosen Jon Foster, who is currently deputy chief fire officer for the county, for the position.

It follows current chief fire officer, Andrew Brodie, announcing his retirement from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue this summer.

Mr Foster started his career at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 1983 as an on-call firefighter at Boroughbridge.  

He pursued his ambition to join as a wholetime firefighter in 1994 and has since worked in a wide range of roles across the county, before being made deputy chief fire officer in September 2019.

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Mr Foster will be recommended to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel to be approved for the role next month.

Mr Allott said:

“Our communities are some of the safest places to live in the country and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service plays a hugely important role in ensuring that continues. It was important to select the best person to lead the team, and I am delighted to recommend Jon Foster for that role over the next 12 months.

“As the current deputy chief fire officer, and having worked within the service for the past 38 years, Jon is someone who knows North Yorkshire and York inside out. He has the respect of colleagues and the commitment to continue the work to create an even stronger and sustainable service.

“Resources are always constrained, but I was impressed by Jon’s commitment to innovation in response and preventative practices, and his desire to ensure we have an emergency service which reflects the communities they serve.

“Subject to the panel’s approval of Jon’s suitability at their confirmation hearing, I look forward to working with him to deliver a modern, reactive and respected organisation that protects people and property, and saves lives.”

Mr Foster said:

“I am delighted to be afforded the opportunity to serve the public of North Yorkshire as interim chief fire officer.

“I started my fire service career in 1983 at Boroughbridge as a retained firefighter and feel immensely privileged to be the preferred candidate to lead the service about which I am passionate. I look forward to addressing the panel later this month. With their approval, I will look forward to working alongside the commissioner to deliver a high-quality service to the public.”

If approved by the panel, Mr Foster will take up the role on July 22.

People invited to join North Yorkshire police commissioner scrutiny panel

People in the Harrogate district are being invited to apply to join a panel which scrutinises the business of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel meets six times a year and includes 10 councillors, as well as two independent members.

It scrutinises the role of Philip Allott, the current commissioner, who was elected to the position in May.

Applications are open to co-opt two independent members to the panel.

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The members will serve four years on the panel and be entitled to an allowance of £1,741 a year, plus travel expenses.

Co-opted members are also entitled to Dependant Carers Allowance, which covers childcare costs or costs for care for elderly/disabled relatives, where arrangements have to be made to enable attendance at meetings.

Santokh Sidhu is an outgoing co-opted member who joined the panel when it was introduced in 2012 and has served two terms.

He said: 

“I would encourage anyone who is interested in the role and who thinks they may have the skills needed to apply.

“Don’t be put off by jargon, acronyms or fancy titles. It is so important to have independent members on the panel who do not have a political background, to complement and reflect back some of the wider views and experiences of those in our communities.”

Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, who chairs the panel, said:

“Following last month’s election, this is an especially exciting time to join the panel as it supports the new commissioner as relationships are developed and contributions made to the future direction of these vital services.

“The role of panel members is important and demanding. The co-opted members are an essential component of the panel. They bring a fresh perspective and add valuable experience to the panel.”

You can apply for the role on the panel at https://nypartnerships.org.uk/pcprecruit.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on 15 July 2021. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted in the week commencing 26 July and interviews will be held on 6 and 8 September.